Quick Reference

This section is not intended for first timers. If you haven’t done enough, you must go back to the individual topic discussion. This section provides a quick reference guide to the most common errors in SC. This has mostly come from my notes, which I made during my preparation. Enjoy!

NOUNS & PRONOUNS

Possessive Case –
Living beings, personified objects, space or time (denoting an amount)
Apposition – ‘s is added to the latter
Two subjects – when different possession is implied, then both of them has ‘s
When joint possession is implied, only the latter has ‘s

Pronoun after than/as – nominative form (e.g. taller than I) But if verb is missing then objective form can be used. (Taller than me…is also correct)

Anybody, everybody, everyone, anyone, each – singular. Gender is as per context

‘One’ should be used throughout

‘None’ – singular/plural – as per context

‘Anyone’ – used only when there are more than two persons

Each, either, neither – singular

For relative pronouns – verb must agree with antecedent of the relative pronoun
(e.g. – He is one of the cleverest boys that have passed this year. This is only one of the poems that is worth reading.)

Possessive case pronoun cannot be used as antecedent

Third person pronoun should not be used as antecedent to who/that
(e.g. Mucool’s room is so messy that his mother calls him a pig. Him is wrong. Needs an antecedent and there is none. Mucool’s is possessive case. Him should be replaced by mucool)

COMPARISONS

LIKE Vs AS

Like — to compare people, things (nouns)

As — to compare clauses (any phrase that involves a verb)

SUCH AS = For Example

“such as” is NOT “like”

‘such as’ cannot be substituted for ‘like’

Comparisons must be logically and structurally parallel.

Two things — comparative degree

More things — superlative degree

Different from — is correct

Different than — incorrect

VERB TENSE

PRESENT PERFECT — have/has + past participle

past——(continuing)—–>present

PAST PERFECT — Had + past participle

“To have” = “had”

These are correct forms:

has had

had had

Infinitives — to + the verb

Split Infinitives are wrong

e.g.: to + ___ + Verb …is wrong…nothing should come in between to and the verb.

MOOD & VOICE

IF…THEN…

If she wins…will give… (present)

If she won…would give…(past)

If she had won…would have given…(future)

COULD/WOULD never appear in the IF clause.

IF vs WHETHER –> Use whether not if, when you have to make a choice.

Subjunctive Mood

If I were…(contrary to reality)

Uncertainty –> Hopes, desires, proposals, requests

Formed using “That”…then plural form to be used for singular subjects.

e.g. It is urgent that she sign…not signs!!

that he be…infinitive form without “to”.

USEFUL POINTERS

Look out for : none, each,….pronoun number errors.

Verb agreement with subject w.r.t. number, tense, etc.

Modifiers…recognise them.

Possessive case –it’s not the subject!!

Dangling Modifiers — modifiers which have no subject — wrong!!

Almost always Modifiers come immediately after the word they modify!

IF Vs WHETHER — If — hypothetical… whether — when you have to choose among options

These pointers only tell you what should get the bells ringing. When you see any of these, you should know that okay I got to look for errors here. For the rest, see the detailed articles on each topic.

Books I used for cracking Verbal…buy them now!

I recommend you getting the books right away. One good reason is motivation. New books help you stay motivated. I am not a big fan of xerox copies. They don’t smell good. The smell of a new book excites me and gives me another reason to start early with a zest. I get all my stuff from Amazon. (Yes it even ships books to India!) You get good deals and you can club your books to get in one shipment. Don’t think too much. I can vouch for the quality and effectiveness of the books I am recommending. Happy GMATing!!!

Best GMAT Supplements

Latest Articles

Flipkart Best Sellers

Ads

Like GMATing?? Say it…

Stay Connected

Enter your email address:

About Me

Hi there!! My name is Mukul. I'm an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, class of 2013. I'm a B.Tech. from IIT Delhi and scored a 770 on GMAT. I am passionate about teaching and have always brought about change, big or small, in my community. I have helped many folks to get to their dream schools (Tuck, Tepper, ISB, LBS, HEC). I work at a top Consulting firm, but in whatever time I get I hope to extend my services to everyone through this website while keeping it simple, honest and transparent. Apart from helping people in their MBA dream, I love hiking with my daughter and wife, woodworking, painting and going to National Parks.
read my story

"GMAT" and other GMAC™ trademarks are registered trademarks of the Graduate Management Admission Council™. The Graduate Management Admission Council™ does not endorse, nor is it affiliated in any way with the owner or any content on this web site. This website is not affiliated with any of the organizations, schools, publications or sites listed in this website. The opinions expressed here are solely those of the author.GMATing by Mukul Kumar is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.